The idle musings of a former military man, former computer geek, medically retired pastor and now full-time writer. Contents guaranteed to offend the politically correct and anal-retentive from time to time. My approach to life is that it should be taken with a large helping of laughter, and sufficient firepower to keep it tamed!

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Down with the crud

I'm running a fever and coughing up lumps, and Miss D. isn't doing much better. I'm afraid blogging will be light today. I'll try to post later, when I (hopefully) may be feeling more human.

Do not stand near anyone, or at least not close enough to get 'blow by' sneezes. Or coughs.

When you are ready to leave the gym: GO TO THE BATHROOM and 'scrub' your hands. I mean give them a pre-surgical scrub. Lots of soap, rinse. Lots more soap, rinse. Go up your arms a bit too. Do not shower there.... Shower at home! (Athletes foot anyone?)

I've been a gym rat since I was 18 years old (I am now 67)¸. I used get every stinking bit of crud that breezed through the gym, until my lifting coach (a REAL coach not a match-book trainer, I was a power lifter), told me to keep my hands the heck away from my face. He used more expletives.

A different note:¸

When flu is around, DO NOT EAT OUT. Ever. (We have stopped eating out completely. Cirrhosis is not a fun disease.)

Also, because you are older and we are so much more 'vibrant', there has been an upswing in Hepatitis (pick a letter). This can be transmitted fairly easily through food, particularly when kitchen help comes from a culture THAT DOES NOT WASH. (No running water, or if running water, filthy running water - nothing gets clean.)

If you are a diabetic: Go get a prescription for Metformin. NOT ANYTHING ELSE. Just Metformin. Take no other drugs. You will be better for it. (Go read the literature, see what I mean.

Lecture off. But seriously (and the preceding is also serious), I enjoy your blog and want you to have many, many more years writing it!

One more thing: mix 1 part hydrogen peroxide to 1 part water. Gargle with it. It takes awful and gets all foamy, which might set off your gag reflex. Resist! When done gargling (try to do it for a total of 30 seconds), rinse with plain water (you'll really want to do this).

Kills germs like mad -- also kills bad breath. I use it after brushing my teeth. The one week I didn't gargle, I got sick. So back to hydrogen peroxide and water as a gargle.

Around my area influenza A and to a lesser extent B are raging. The vaccine is totally ineffective against the particular strain of A. The A seems more infectious than usual as well. Despite hand washing bordering on obsessive, hand sanitizer and even masks it burned through every staff member of a local clinic in a matter of a week. I got A myself and I generally have a very strong immune system and rarely catch bugs despite regular exposure. Worst flu year we've had in recent memory around here.